Miss Zombie

Cult director Sabu returns with this elegantly framed satire of zombie lore and modern materialism. When a family has a zombie unexpectedly delivered to their house, they decide to keep her as a domestic servant, with unintended and deadly consequences.

A mysterious box arrives at the home of Dr. Teramoto. Inside it is a cage that contains three things: a book of instructions (“Do not feed meat – will become feral”), a gun in case of emergencies, and Shara (Ayaka Komatsu), his new, domesticated zombie. Teramoto and his wife waste no time in putting their mail-order zombie to work scrubbing their courtyard. Their son, Kenichi, is fascinated by their new domestic, as are all the men of the estate. Shara seems condemned to suffer their daily attentions and indignities, but when an unexpected tragedy strikes the family, the lines between living and dead, both physically and ideologically, become blurred. Cult director Sabu mirrors the family's derailment by allowing the film to slip into other genres. Juggling poker-faced satire, modern melodrama, and early-20th-century horror films, he is able to have his cake and eat it too, skewering the hypocrisy of the modern domestic servant industry while reveling in the satisfying wish-fulfillment that each genre provides. Meanwhile, cinematographer Daisuke Sôma ties it all together with his gorgeously mercurial black-and-white imagery, and Shara's slow-boil transformation will leave you questioning who the real human is.

Director Biography

Hiroyuki Tanaka, who works under the pseudonym Sabu, was born in Wakayama, Japan in 1964. He began his film career as an actor in Sorobanzuku (1986) with his directorial debut coming in 1996 with D.A.N.G.A.N. Runner. Sabu continues to act as well as direct. Miss Zombie will be his 14th feature length film.

Print Sources

Click here to download the 2014 Seattle International Film Festival Print Source PDF.

SIFF's mission is to create experiences that bring people together to discover extraordinary films from around the world. It is through the art of cinema that we foster a community that is more informed, aware, and alive!